Similarities Between Mesopotamia And Egyptian Civilization

Ancient civilizations across history have shown unique and incredible feats of mankind. Arguably, two of the most prominent ancient civilizations in the Middle East and even the world are the Mesopotamians (Beginning 5,000 B.C.) and Egyptians (Beginning 3,150 B.C). Even though these two civilizations peaked about 2,000 years apart, they share numerous similarities contributing to their success, and also show even more differences that distinguish how each had a unique culture and way of life.

When you look back in history to the development and the contributions of both the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, you see that there was a lot accomplished, as well as a lot created. The earliest forms of writing developed in Mesopotamia, while Egypt was referred to the “Gift of the Nile” by traveler Herodotus (McKay,42). Development of cities was another major marker, especially in the “old world”, of how people eventually determined civilizations and what they represented. According to McKay, civilizations were determined by people who considered themselves more “civilized”, urban people mostly. Made up of cities, written rules of law, and social justice codes, Mesopotamia and Egypt would develop into two of the largest civilizations in history.

Known as one of the earliest civilizations, Mesopotamia and Egypt both share set amounts of similarities along with a share of striking distinctions. Environmentally, these two civilizations were formed in similar surroundings, yet their weather patterns show distinctions. Politically, both governments derived from a monarch, yet their laws and punishments distinguished the two’s court systems. Economically, they both shared prosperous success in similar manners. Socially, although the two lands followed a hierarchy, the value of women contrasted. Culturally, they both believed in a higher order of creation; however, their views of them were polar opposites. Intellectually, these two societies developed skilled abilities and creations that

While Mesopotamia is greatly defined through it development of literature through writings such as Hammurabi's code and religion through Babylonian gods and goddesses, Egyptian civilization is greatly defined through the development of irrigation and agriculture. Egyptian civilization as described in great lengths in the, “Western Heritage” was centered around the Nile River. With the aid of the river, Egyptians were able to develop a complex agricultural system of planting and harvesting, which allowed for a surplus of crops incomparable to the rest of the ancient world. By having an advantageous agricultural system, Egypt was able to place their focus elsewhere, allowing for unified society rather than having individual city states. Under this unified society, religion was the dominant factor, leading to one of the world’s first theocracies, as well as some of the western civilization's greatest dynastic rulers. Although Egypt's unified state allowed for it to become one of the most highly developed civilizations of the western world, it also led to its destruction. Due to its highly unified state, Egypt rarely engaged in warfare amongst itself and other civilizations. This led to a fundamentally lacking military skill, which caused their destruction by the

The most apparent difference was these civilizations’ distinct type of rule. Egypt had pharaohs as their kings or rulers. Pharaohs were seen as holy figures and treated as gods, which allowed ancient Egypt to have a single, unified governing body, combining church and state. Mesopotamia was divided into city-states with a ruler governing each area independently. This led to a more fragmented political structure with recurring clashes and wars. The story of the Mesopotamian era is one of war, feud, and collapse; whereas ancient Egypt was mostly unified, sustaining a stable and well-structured

cilvilizations and ancient cultures were able to be successful in their way of life. Ancient cultures in this case Mesopotamia and Egypt were sucessful in both their different and same unique ways, weather it'll be in term of their beliefs, way of life, or how the civilization were being govern, each have their own ways to sucess and are able to pass on that knowledge to the future generation. Ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt are able to develop into sucessful civilization by their governors being able to create a laws for civilians to follow, geographic luck of how Fertile Creasant and Nile river help out each civilizations to survive and grows, and beliefs of how in order to be happy and successful with their way of life, each culture must keep their gods happy in many uniqe ways, which all these points were the reason why the Mesopotamia

Throughout the history of Earth, there have been many fascinating developments, the most prominent being the first civilizations, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. They had many similarities, such as characteristics of early civilizations and social structures, but they also had their differences. The most embossed differences included the divergent geography, prior belief, trade, relations with other civilizations, and politics.

I have chosen to discuss the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Both have many significant similarities and differences. I would like to compare some important points in four common categories. I will compare and contrast the geography and its impact, the political structure of each society, the importance of their existing class structures and finally the role of women in these dynamic civilizations.

While describing the cultural among the people of Mesopotamia and Egypt, I learned the differences and similarities in culture. The birth of Mesopotamian Civilization began in c. 3000 B.C.E., in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers of Southwest Asia. Mesopotamia is a Greek word and it means ‘between the rivers.’ In contrast, the birth of Egyptian Civilization began in c. 3100 B.C.E., in a valley of the Nile River in Northeastern Africa. Egypt is a Greek word and it means ‘House of the Spirit of Ptah.’ Since there are several categories in the cultures of the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians, I decided to narrows it to three categories: Religion, Writing, and Geography. The three categories will present the basis to compare cultural differences and similarities.

They brought writing, the wheel, the calendar, and astronomy. Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt allowed human beings, for the first time in history, to settle down in one place and farm instead of chasing their often dangerous wild animal food sources. Both civilizations shared similarities and differences in their climate, politics, intellect, religion, arts and architecture, technology, economics, and social structures, that allowed them to flourish and become two of the most well-known ancient civilizations.

The physical environments of Egypt and Mesopotamia do explain their cultural differences. Egyptians had natural barriers and fertile, predictable land, while Mesopotamians had unpredictable land and no protection from invaders. These key differences are the basis of the cultural differences between the two regions, and explain different parts of their culture, such as their outlook on life/afterlife and their rulers.

Mei Kei Ho Professor Codella Humanity 300 14th February, 2017 Part I: Compare and Contrast Mesopotamian and Egyptian Cultures The two most significant civilizations in ancient history are Mesopotamia and Egypt, They both developed environmental, political, religious and social patterns as well as architecture and art. Although they had a lot of things in common, they were also different in a lot of ways.

In the first civilization, both Mesopotamia and Egypt relied on a hunter-gatherer economic system, during that time, every country in the world strived on it. Mesopotamia had rich soil for agriculture, but experiences floods. For the Mesopotamians, these floods would destroy major cities, but for the Egyptians it would keep the soil rich all year long without the damage that the Mesopotamians had experienced.

In both cultures religion guided every aspect of life. Egyptian and Mesopotamian religion was based on polytheistic belief system. This means that the people believed in more than just on god. The Egyptians had as many as 2000 gods and goddesses. The difference is that the Egyptian leader who was the pharaoh was the religious leader of the Egyptian people, also known as: 'Lord of the Two Lands' and 'High Priest of Every Temple'. But they both believed that the many of deities who were believed to be present in, and in control of, the forces and elements of nature. They believed the gods controlled everything good and bad that happened to them. This religion played a part on the different societies government systems.

The geography of Mesopotamian affected their society. Located on a wide open plain with little protection, the Mesopotamian was always under fire. On the other hand, Egypt being more centralized on the Nile River had an upper hand. Egypt was very secured by natural boundaries. This allowed Egypt's kingdom to flourish for centuries. Unfortunately, Mesopotamia was never thought of a nation nor a country. Mesopotamia is a region located between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. In which established an extremely arranged city-states. Each city-state was self-reliant, Mesopotamia did not have a capital.